Sean Äaberg

MOON MADNESS

A little sneak peek at the Moon Madness expansion box for DUNGEON DEGENERATES. It’s really fun to explore all these new possibilities within the game! This one is due out the summer of 2025.

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 125 - ART

When I used to teach art I would draw along with the class, nowadays I’m not excited to share my lack of ability, at all. It’s all in my brain, but the link between my brain & my muscles was interrupted by the stroke. But, I would like to teach art again, so I have to develop a way to talk about it without drawing along. Having read thousands of art books, I should be able to explain a piece just by showing & talking about it. A big part of art is that it should be in the service ...

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 124 - KEEP ON KEEPING ON

One of the things I’ve heard is that the president sets the tone of the country. I understand that this is true, but it shouldn’t be. The American people should set the tone of the country, this shouldn’t shift with the propaganda wars being conducted daily in the media, they should emulate the tone of the people. People have been trapped in this dysfunctional relationship for so long, it’s difficult to find & unimportant to point out its origin. This is a maze of dysfunctional re...

DUNGEON DEGENERATES LORE 5

Attempting to control death is just the unusual aspect of what the Würstreich does, they also go after controlling life just as heavily if not more so. The Würstreich bludgeons & corrals the people into their system, like a potter shapes clay. 

The Würstreich is not all stick, they use a variety of carrots (or sausages) to keep the citizens in line too. The central carrot is safety, the world is chock full of Goblins, Nackt Drek & other monsters, heretics, bandits, i...

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 123 - DESPAIR

I have been witnessing the total despair & hopelessness of people facing down another Trump presidency. The way I look at timelines now is that the lead-up to the event is just as important if not more important than the event itself. It’s hard to convince the public of this because everyone is just training for the test at this point, even though the journey is the thing that builds you up for the destination. It can’t be skipped. Because I’m non-partisan & have empathy for peo...

BRAIN DEAD ZINE INTERVIEW

Here’s a little interview I just completed for a zine that the folks at Brain Dead are putting together.

What got you into gaming?

I played AD&D before I could read, i thought the dice were gems you could play with at first. I was drawn to the idea of a game you could play in your head & on paper, imagination with rules. Later I was attracted to miniatures, I really liked that modelling could be done as art.

You had a punk publication called PORK MAGAZINE. How do ...

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 122 - THE HOBBIT MOVIES & THE RINGS OF POWER

I decided to be a Tolkien scholar when I was eleven. This was 1987, Tolkien wasn’t a hot property, boomers had their Tolkien phase almost 20 years prior. The used book stores were loaded with evidence of this. I read everything he wrote multiple times, everything written about him multiple times, biographies, analyses, poetry, so much. I had a couple shelves dedicated to Tolkien & associated works. I would read Tolkien while listening to the BBC Lord of the Rings on tape. I knew Peter J...

DUNGEON DEGENERATES LORE 4

The official Imperial religion of the Würstreich is “Purity in Death” or “Reinheit im Tod” or Puritanism for short & is enforced by the Holy Order. They view that life is sin-ridden & impure & that purity is only attainable through death. Therefore this religion is not concerned with improving people’s lot in life while they are alive but rather preparing them for their entry into endless death. They don’t believe in life after death or before birth, just that a perso...

MISSIONS

I came up with the adventurers in Missions II & III after playing a lot of Grand Theft Auto 3 & 4 & wanting that kind of feeling from DUNGEON DEGENERATES, but obviously in a fantasy setting. The missions can be played stand alone or incorporated into the Hand of Doom campaign. Essentially I have been tired of epic fantasy & urgency inflation in everything around me (the ultimate fight of good against evil where the fate of the multiverse hangs on the line) & wanted to emph...

DEGENERATES

I put images of all the DUNGEON DEGENERATES adventurers up on the website & was just marveling at all the variety! With 12 new characters on their way with the expansions, so much craziness! So many other characters have made themselves apparent to me - this world keeps on developing!

YAMI SPECHIE MIXES

These mixes by Yami SpechiE are my favorite, I’ve listened to all of them multiple times in the last few years.

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 120 - DEATH

I think about death throughout the year but I give it special attention in this time. It has been especially easier to think about death having actually died already. I was terrified of death growing up, but in age I recognize that it was really fear of not doing what I’m supposed to do on Earth. It’s hard for a kid to say something like that without seeming like an overserious & ominous person, which I wasn’t. It’s not depressing for me to think about death. It’s definitionally...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Happy Halloween!!! I made this Halloween Scroll a decade ago to give out to GOBLINKO shoppers & trick or treaters! My goal has always been to teach people about the true Halloween & the spirit of morbid goofiness that the holiday should emanate! PDF on GOBLINKO. Search for HALLOWEEN SCROLL, have fun & think about death! 💀🎃💀🎃

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 119

One of the things that I’ve really noticed is that subcultures, at least in America, have been in sharp decline for the last… I’d say decade. This goes with the subcultural attitude towards music, clothes, culture in general. I know that there are still lots of new subcultures around but they are different, the way culture spreads is so different now. So, I guess I mean the classic subcultures. But those subcults like Punk & Goth are old, they were already old when I got into them. ...

DUNGEON DEGENERATES LORE 3

The next blood-soaked era; “Die SelbstzugefügteWunde” was horrible for the Gütter & anyone else that the Würst decided was a thorn in their side. The Würst had united under the leadership of the seven warrior saints. These warrior saints would form the Holy Order, codify the Würst historic & ideological doctrine & enforce this new way using sword, fire, torture chamber & gallows. Crusaders of the Holy Order swarmed over the land in their grand Inquisition looking for ...

PIZZA PARTY

After Monsters, Weirdos & Creeps I worked on embracing the new, wild, manic, everything that was the internet at that point in time. This was probably around 2010 or so… a lot of stuff that has become old, stale & obvious sources of major problems were new, fresh & only known to people who were paying attention at that point. It was fun. Pizza Party was all about that spirit. It’s wild how long ago that feels.

SOME DUNGEON DEGENERATES

After I drew the Monsters, Weirdos & Creeps cards, The Pizza Party Cards & the unreleased Gurpers series I knew I had it in me to do a fantasy series. That was the impetus for DUNGEON DEGENERATES. I drew over 160 monsters for the base game & I just kept going. There’s over 250 unique monsters! Here’s a small selection of them. Besides the influence of Bosch, I was also really inspired by the Earthbound & how you would battle… anything, I wanted to encourage that feeling ...

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 118 - MOVING RIGHT ALONG

I’ve been writing a lot of lore, missions & my first short story for DUNGEON DEGENERATES. As more detail is amassed for this already detailed world my goal has been to keep it entertaining & not so thick like dull history homework. I’m avoiding the Silmarillion effect, just because I know that’s my tendency. The Hobbit is Tolkien’s best story, the Lord of the Rings starts to get Biblical & the Silmarillion is like the Dead Sea Scrolls & the Book of Enoch. More reading ...

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 117 - CHINA

I’ve been watching a lot of Youtube videos on China. China is amazing. An ancient society experiencing a level of advancement that is almost unbelievable. I’ve been exposed to a constant drumbeat against China since the 90s from all angles: labor & economics, civil rights, both anti-communism & anti-capitalism, the genocide of the Uighur etc. But, China as a society is blowing America & really, all countries out of the water. If you look at just the fact that they have pulled ...

MWC SERIES II

Some of the second series of the Monsters, Weirdos & Creeps cards! I used to sell these in hand done wax packs (glue sticking then shut) & also out of our six card & sticker vending machines that were set up at various locations in Eugene & Portland. It was a good time.

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 116 - STINK BOMB

The election is approaching & I have been working hard on not just writing about my increasingly nuanced & mild views on politics. However, I am listening to the city council candidates for my district talk about the election & so I want to as well. The majority of candidates are focussing on bread & butter issues, which is great. It does indicate that Portland is uncomfortable enough to focus on these basic issues instead of the usual “wacky lifestyle” & “saving the...

MONSTERS, WEIRDOS & CREEPS

From the brief relaunch in 2019 of the original Monsters, Weirdos & Creeps cards that I did in 2009? I don’t remember exactly when. The world of these guys was big, & could be developed into a much larger thing at some point, I’d like to do that. It would be fun. If you notice the color scheme was inspired directly by all the old 60s decals & colorforns, this went on to inspire the DUNGEON DEGENERATES coloring methodology!

DUNGEON DEGENERATES LORE 02

The early Valhal peoples faced a dilemma. The old tribal ways offered a sense of security, an assuredness of the way the world was & what it meant to be. With the discovery of the secrets of the Celestials, they gained a distinct advantage over but also shut the door on the past. The Würst decided to make that faustian bargain & turned their backs on the elders. 

At first they were targeted by the Gütter elders who rightly saw them as a threat. The Gütter tribes woul...

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 115 - AMONGST THE NERDS

I first discovered Games Workshop in 1985 when I bought a couple Dragon magazines in Twin Falls, Idaho. My parents always let me spend a little more money on vacation & I was stoked to get these. I think I got a set of Steve Jackson Cardboard Heroes as well. I had fallen head-first into the world of fantasy role playing-games, but. This is a big but. I always felt like they were missing something, that they were too nerdy. I was always on the outskirts of nerd culture, into Monty Python, ...

ACID VOMIT: THE ART OF SEAN ÄABERG FLIP THROUGH

Acid Vomit! is a large, full-color, hardbound, coffee-table book of my artwork, featuring my original illustrations from the last 20+ years. This vibrant monograph includes a range of styles, from initial concept sketches to completed artwork, showcasing drawings from many different published projects, and some never before seen work as well. Covering my early 'zine & comic work in the '90s and '00s, my conceptual work in the '00s, his work on PORK magazine & the DUNGEON DEGENERATES b...

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 114 - "BIG SUCCESS, BIG MESS."

We just finished watching the Vince McMahon documentary on NetFlix & I just finished reading “Bon Scott: Have a Drink On Me” book by Irene Thornton. I had this profound moment when she wrote that Bon was going to be a Rock&Roll singer regardless of whether it was unhealthy for him or not. This killed him, with McMahon he is supposed to be a vehicle for professional wrestling. The world & life throw numerous obstacles in your way, life would be boring & too easy if this was...

SELF EDGE

A Self Edge ad I did for PORK magazine that took place in the newly forming DUNGEON DEGENERATES world. The guy on the right is going to reappear in the video game!

PORK 16

The cover to PORK 16. Instagram is such a visual platform & I have been writing so much, not for social media but a short story, for the DUNGEON DEGENERATES expansions & for THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER ( now on my Substack), & i haven’t been able to draw how I want for six years! So, I’m showing mostly old stuff, I’ve got a lot of new stuff in the works, but just not so social media-able. Also this thing just doesn’t cut it, knowing that is not bad thing!

BROTHER THEODORE VS. JERRY LEWIS

This is amazing. Just watch.

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER

I started using Substack because I've been doing so much writing. What I'm wondering is do you want my me to continue posting them here or just there? My aim is to make this mostly DUNGEON DEGENERATES material. I'm also not including them in my GOBLINKO email, which is going to once a week. I've already made up my mind, but I'm interested & could be swayed by people's opinions.